Bakery products commonly known as bread bowls have achieved considerable popularity. The bread bowl is a baked product similar to a roll which has an open topped cavity for holding soup and similar foods. The plug that is removed to form the cavity is often eaten as a roll that accompanies the soup.
In the past, the plugs have normally been cut by hand at the point of use. The obvious inefficiencies and lack of uniformity resulting from manual cutting of the plugs is evident. However, automated equipment for producing bread bowl products has not been successfully developed.
Accordingly, it is the principal goal of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for efficiently and reliably cutting plugs in bakery products in order to provide a soup holding cavity when the plug is removed from each product.
More specifically, it is an object of the invention to provide a machine for cutting plugs from bakery products in a manner to take advantage of mass production techniques and efficiencies. In this respect, it is an important feature of the invention that the products are processed simultaneously in rows so that a number of them are conveyed, clamped, cut and then released as a group to provide production efficiencies over processing techniques that involve forming soup cavities one at a time.
Another object in the invention is to provide a method and apparatus of the character described for cutting the plugs in a manner to leave the bottom of each plug attached to the bakery product. Because the product is maintained intact, the bread bowl and plug can be handled and packaged together, and yet the plug can be easily removed at the point of use by tearing it at the bottom.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus of the character described in which the products are securely clamped in place while the plugs are being cut. The plugs are thus cut at the proper location and without damaging the product as could occur if the product is allowed to move during the cutting operation.
A further object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus of the character described in which the plugs can be cut in virtually any desired shape and to virtually any desired depth. The provision of a cutting assembly in which the cutting blades can be easily removed and replaced by blades of different diameters and/or lengths is important in this regard, as the blade size and length can be varied to vary the size and depth of the bread bowl cavity.
These and other objects are achieved by providing a machine having a conveyor along which the bakery products are conveyed. The conveyor is provided with length-wise partitions so that the products move in side-by-side columns toward a brake mechanism followed by an indexing mechanism. The index station is provided with an indexing gate which intercepts the incoming products. Sensors such as photocells detect when each column has a product located at the index station, and the gate is then raised so that the products are conveyed away side by side in a row toward a cutting station located downstream from the index station.
At the cutting station, a centering gate which is lowered into the conveyor path intercepts and stops the products. The centering gate has, for each product, a pair of angled converging surfaces which center the product side to side at the proper location directly below a hollow cylindrical cutter. The presence of a product at each position in the row located at the cutting station is verified by a photocell or other sensor. A clamping gate then swings down from behind to clamp the products securely against the centering gate.
A cutting assembly carrying all of the cutters is then lowered so that the blades of the cutters penetrate the bakery products all at the same time. The blades are rotated and are provided with cutting teeth on their edges so that the blades cut central cylindrical plugs in the products as they are lowered. Downward motion of the cutting assembly is stopped before the blades cut completely through the bottom of the products, thus leaving the bottom of each plug attached to the product. The cutting assembly is then raised, the centering and clamping gates are swung upwardly to release the products, and the products with the plugs intact are conveyed away for further handling as the next incoming row of products approaches the cutting station.
Other and further objects of the invention, together with the features of novelty appurtenant thereto, will appear in the course of the following description.